Alabama

Rescuer didn't realize severity of Riley injuries

Former Alabama Gov. Bob Riley has improved since his motorcycle wreck in Alaska and was flown by air ambulance to Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla., to be near the family's condominium, according to his son. (AP)

GADSDEN, Alabama — The motorcycle wreck victim whom Steve DeMolen found on an Alaskan highway didn't seem too badly hurt, but as DeMolen was driving him to a hospital the man started saying he had been governor of Alabama. That's when DeMolen stepped on the gas.

DeMolen, a retired master sergeant who now works as a Caterpillar rental sales representative in Fairbanks, Alaska, recounted in an interview published Wednesday by The New York Times' regional newspapers in Alabama how he assisted former Gov. Bob Riley following the wreck.

Riley, a two-term Alabama governor, had gone on a cross-country motorcycle trip after leaving office in January. On June 26, he had to lay down his 800-pound Harley-Davidson Road King motorcycle on the slippery and dangerous "Ice Road Truckers" highway north of Fairbanks after the bike lost traction on the dirt and gravel surface.

DeMolen and a friend had met Riley a short while earlier at a Yukon River eatery before getting back in DeMolen's truck and heading back out to the highway.

As they crested a hill, they came across Riley and his downed bike.

Riley, 66, said he didn't know what happened. Cell phone coverage was bad and no one had a satellite phone, so DeMolen put Riley in his four-wheel-drive pickup and drove him 110 miles for medical treatment. Riley's only injury that DeMolen and his friend Delaney Smith could see was a cut hand.

Sitting with Riley was DeMolen's dog, Shadow. DeMolen said Shadow sensed something wrong with the muddy man because he licked his hand almost to comfort him.

"We needed to talk to him, for him to stay awake," DeMolen said. The conversation turned to, "And what do you do?"

"He asked us and I said 'I work for Caterpillar' and Delany said she was a schoolteacher," DeMolen said.

"We asked him three or four times, 'Are you retired'?" Smith said.

"He kind of avoided it a few times and then he said, 'I was the governor of the state of Alabama,'" Smith said.

"We both looked at each other," DeMolen said. "I pushed the pedal down harder."

DeMolen pulled his truck into the emergency room entrance at Fairbanks Memorial Hospital and told the front desk: 'I've got a guy I picked up 110 miles north of here who needs help, he says his name is Bob Riley and he thinks he's governor of Alabama."

Riley couldn't get out of the truck by himself, DeMolen said. "I go to pull him out and see his eyes roll back in his head and he starts convulsing and I just see him dying in my pickup," he said.

Riley, who suffered numerous broken ribs, a broken collarbone and a punctured lung, was in critical condition when admitted, then was upgraded to stable, a hospital spokeswoman said.

DeMolen said Alaska law enforcement officials later verified Riley's identity.

"The troopers called the day after . and said, 'What do you know, he is the governor,'" DeMolen said.

Smith visited Riley every day in the hospital until Friday. DeMolen said he is non-partisan politically but would vote for Riley "for president" based on their few hours together.

"He's a really nice man; we enjoyed visiting with him," she said.

The ex-governor has improved and was flown by air ambulance to Sarasota Memorial Hospital in Sarasota, Fla., to be near the family's condominium, said son Rob Riley.

"There is still significant pain, but I'm feeling much better," the elder Riley said in a statement.

"I'm grateful for the excellent medical care I received in Fairbanks and for the good Samaritans who picked me up after my fall and took me to the hospital," he added. "They truly were God-sent."